Oleander House: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 1

his shoulder. Bo’s nearness tingled up his spine, hot and cold and more than he could stand.
“Give us a chance, Sam,” Bo said softly. “We’re glad you’re here, and no one cares that you’re gay.”
Sam didn’t trust himself to speak, so he kept quiet. Eventually Bo dropped his hand and walked away. Sam waited until he heard the door click shut before he let the tension run out of his body. He sank shaking to the floor, leaned his head against the cool wall and closed his eyes.
    It took him the better part of an hour to work up the courage to go downstairs. Huddled alone on the braided rug in front of the French doors in his room, the turmoil of his nightmare and Bo’s subsequent visit started to fade and he began to see his situation more clearly.
    He no longer had a home or a job in Marietta, not that he missed them. He had a new job he loved, with people whose company he enjoyed. Bo was right; they deserved a chance. Maybe in time, he could even get past what he felt for Bo.
    Part of him knew that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. But if there was one thing Sam was good at, it was hiding his feelings. All he had to do was keep the blandly indifferent mask he’d worn most of his life—the one he’d begun to believe he might not need anymore—and he could work with Bo like nothing had ever transpired between them.
    He refused to listen to the part of him that didn’t believe that either.
Sam showered and changed clothes before heading downstairs. His co-workers might not mind that he’d kept his sexual orientation from them, but he figured they wouldn’t want to see him rumpled, red-eyed and unshaven, with semen stains on his pants.
When Sam got to the library, Andre and Cecile were each planted in front of a portable TV, watching different videos. David sat slouched in a chair with his feet on the table, listening to one of the audio recorders through headphones. He glanced up when Sam walked in and paused the tape.
“Hey, Sam. Grab an audio, there’s one more. We saved it for you.”
Sam gave David a cautious smile, assessing his mood. His grin was just as wide as it always was, dark blue eyes warm as ever.
“Sure thing,” Sam said, relaxing a little. “Headphones?”
David gestured toward the canvas equipment bag on the sofa. Plucking a pair of headphones from the bag, Sam plugged them into the audio recorder and settled himself into a chair. Andre glanced at him, smiled and nodded before going back to his own tape. Cecile waved at him without looking away from hers.
A wide smile spread over Sam’s face as he switched on the recorder. It was just like Bo said it would be. They all knew not only about his being gay, but about his feelings for Bo, and it hadn’t made any difference at all. He’d never felt such profound relief in his life.
As it turned out, Sam had the audio he and Amy had recorded the day before. He dutifully listened to Amy’s questions and the scuff of their feet on the dirt for the next hour. He heard nothing else. When it ended, he turned off the recorder, leaned back in his chair and stretched lazily.
“Tired?” David asked.
“Mm-hm.” Sam yawned. “Damn. I had absolutely the most God-awful dream ever just before I woke up this morning.”
“Yeah?” Andre pulled his headphones off and popped the tape out of the VCR. “Cecile and I had dreams again too.”
“They made the others look tame.” Cecile added her tape to the pile of reviewed material and curled her bare feet under her in the chair. “I don’t know how much longer I can handle this. These dreams are really getting to me.”
“You’re not the only one,” Andre said darkly. He tilted his head and gave Sam a curious look. “What was yours like this morning, Sam? Was it more or less a continuation of your other ones?”
“More or less, yeah,” Sam hedged. “What about yours and Cecile’s?”
Andre and Cecile glanced at each other. “Yes, they were,” Cecile answered. “The main difference was that this time, we witnessed members of our group here being torn apart, and we couldn’t help them.”
“Couldn’t escape either,” Andre added. “I’ve been trying to do the lucid dreaming thing ever since Cecile mentioned it. Last night’s the first time I’ve been able to realize I was dreaming and try to get out. And sure enough, I couldn’t.”
Sam frowned. “About that, do you mean that the doors were locked, or something was stopping you?”
“Neither,” Cecile said